Senate Debates Need for High-Speed Trains

Are Americans ready to give up their gas-guzzling SUVs and hop on a high-speed train like their European counterparts? Can the government get it together and efficiently oversee a multi-billion dollar infrastructure program?

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Are Americans ready to give up their gas-guzzling SUVs and hop on a high-speed train like their European counterparts? Can the government get it together and efficiently oversee a multi-billion dollar infrastructure program?

Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, chairman of the committee, framed the debate as an environmental imperative.

"Passenger rail will help us to tackle the climate change crisis and secure our nation's energy supply," Rockefeller said. "The transportation sector is responsible for one-third of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. We simply must address this growing challenge."

Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, was more concerned about the financial risk to taxpayers. "The federal government generally does a poor job of deciding how to spend its money," he said.

To stimulus package allocated $8 billion for the effort, and Obama has requested an additional $5 billion over the next five years in his budget package. The Transportation Department is expected to start handing out grants for rail projects this summer.

Though $13 billion sounds like a lot, it won't go very far in linking up the entire country, said Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. A projected link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, for example, could cost up to $25 billion alone, he said.

Rendell suggested making the states cough up some cash like Pennsylvania chipped in to help Amtrak with the $145 million expansion of the Philadelphia and Harrisburg lines.

He also advocated a national infrastructure bank, staffed by former members of Congress or former secretaries of transportation, who would rank proposals based on priorities via an independent ranking system.

"The public does not want dollars authorized for the same-old system," Rendell said.

"We shouldn't be flying people 500 miles or less," he continued. "We should be putting them on high-speed trains."

Joseph Boardman, president and chief executive of Amtrak, pledged to work with the states in order to become the high-speed rail operator in the United States.

"We are willing to partner with states to provide whatever service is required to succeed in the marketplace, whether it's the additional of frequencies on existing conventional services or the operation of a true high-speed service," Boardman said. "Amtrak is committed to the development of a national rail system."

While countries like France, Spain, and Japan have had much success with their high-speed rail lines, will Americans want to abandon their cars or air travel in favor of a train ride?

Boardman acknowledged that "the culture in this country is not a train-riding culture" but said that could change if officials could come up with an efficient, time-saving, and inter-connected rail system.

Joseph Szabo, an administrator with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) within the Transportation Department, said his agency has held seven outreach sessions that have attracted nearly 1,200 people who "participated with a high level of enthusiasm."

Szabo pledged to evaluate the validity of claims made on grant applications. "We'll run that data through our own calculations [so we're] getting an apples to apples comparison," he said. "At FRA, the projects we choose are going to have to be successful. We understand that we cannot squander this opportunity [or] there won't be a next-generation" rail system."

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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